1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to drilling mud and, more specifically, to a mud tank for processing drilling mud during drilling operations.
In drilling technology, drilling mud is used for removal of drill cuttings and to maintain hydrostatic equilibrium within the wellbore by pumping the drilling mud of a predetermined density down the drill string to the nozzles on the drill bit, whereupon the mud and cuttings are transported back up through the surface casing to a mud pit where it is screened to remove large particles and de-sanded prior to reuse.
The present invention provides a mud tank having a base with peripherally depending walls forming a receptacle for processing the wellbore aggregate by placing a screen shaker over the receptacle to remove particles larger than the screen mesh as the wellbore mixture is pumped into the receptacle. The receptacle is designed with divergent walls extending from a culvert spanning the length of the receptacle forming egress of the wellbore mixture for further processing.
Straddling the culvert is a cap, also having divergent walls extending from the cap apex with the cap divergent walls fixedly spaced away a predetermined distance from the receptacle divergent walls providing passage of the mud slurry into the culvert while preventing larger particles from entering. Preferably the spacing is approximately ¼ inch along both longitudinal cap edges.
Accordingly, the aggregate within the mixture hereinafter referred to as sand, will be channeled to the culvert and moved for further processing to the desander, as opposed to falling out of solution into the nooks and crannies of the prior art mud tanks requiring additional processing tasks.
Furthermore, the culvert cap prevents larger particles from impeding the flow to the desander having drain slits extending the length of both sides of the cap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other tanks, which provide for fluid flow. While these tanks may be suitable for the purposes for which they where designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.
It is thus desirable to provide a tank for processing drilling mud having means for channeling the wellbore mixture into a desander.
It is further desirable to provide said tank with a culvert having a cap thereover incorporating means for regulating particle size and to prevent blockage of the culvert flow.